Amidst the sand dunes and thorny vegetation of Thar Desert towers a fort, 120 meters above the plain. The fort over looks the imperial city of Jodhpur, which is part of the Desert Tourist Triangle. A 10-Km long wall surrounds the old Jodhpur City with eight gates serving as entrances. The new city is settled around this walled area. The Maruthal or land of death came into life when the Rathores' of Kanauj moved in. But, Rao Jodhaji founded the city of Jodhpur in 1459. This city was on the silk route of the 16th century and hence was host to a number of travelers.
In Jodhpur, the genius of its sculptors comes to life in its exquisite palaces, forts, temples and havelis that stand as a testimony to the imperial grandeur. The most alluring part of Jodhpur is the traditional lifestyle; festivity and the smiling people who treasure this former princely state.
The land area, which is called Jodhpur today, was only a small portion of the grand Marwar State before independence. Its borders touched Bikaner in the North, Jaipur in the NorthEast, Ajmer Mewara in the East, Sirohi and Palampur in the South cutting across the Thar of Sindh province and Rann of Kutch and Jaisalmer State in NorthWest. Before independence, its total area was as widespread as 35,016 sq. miles.
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Hundreds of centuries ago, before this expansive desert came into existence, this area was a sea called Drumkulya. Epics have it that an arrow bound fire shot by Lord Rama burnt a large part of the sea and converted it into a desert. This desert was called Maru Mandal, Marudhar, Maruwar, Maru Desh and
Marwar.
Hundreds of years later and after having undergone the ravages of several Kings and their battles, under the rule of King Rao Jodha of the Vikram Era (1510), a city was slowly established around the fort constructed by King Rao Jodha. This fort was situated six miles south of Mandore on a mountain called Chidiyanath ki Tonk. This city came to be known as Jodhpur or Jodhana or Jodhaji Ki Dhani and was the capital of the Marwar state for five centuries. When Rao Jodha established the walled city, it had four gates. As time passed, the city became congested with increasing population and the boundaries continued to expand. Today, that area is called Old City and has a three to eight feet wide and 15 to 30 feet high wall around it in the shape of a horseshoe. This wall has six big gates called Chand Pol, Nagauri Gate, Merti Gate, Sojati Gate, Siwanchi Gate and Jalori Gate. These gates earlier had iron sheets fixed with nails
The foundation of a beautiful palace on the Chittar Hills, now called Umed Palace, was laid by the then Raja Umed Singh on November18, 1929. During his reign the biggest hospital in Marwar was made in Jodhpur, with expenditure of 15 lacs, 80 thousand rupees, which is now known as Mahatma Gandhi hospital. On May 10 1933, Marwar was officially renamed as Jodhpur state. On August 15 1947, India attained independence.Â
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Maharaja Hanuwant Singh, who had succeeded Umed Singh, attended the function wearing a black turban. He said, "Today five hundred years old reign of my family has come to an end, so I am mourning." Thus seven hundred years old Marwar state first merged with Indian Union and then into
Rajasthan.
In Jodhpur there are more than 100 units, which are manufacturing the handicraft items, mostly by the manual process. These items are being exported to different parts of the world mainly Europe and US. The handicrafts export from Jodhpur is approx. of Rs 500 crores. The foreigners visit Jodhpur for getting supply of these items as per their desired specifications.
Other countries in the world are also exporting the handicrafts items for example China. But they are manufacturing these items by machines, which are having less demand as compared to the hand made items. Most of such units are dealing through Punjab National Bank having share of about 40 percent of total export from Jodhpur.Â
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Sanchore and Barmer districts of western Rajasthan are the main producer of Guar (an agriculture product). The Guar products are being used in gum, food processing units, cattle feed, paper industries etc. The main products of Guar are dall, korma, churi and powder. Total export contribution of these units are around Rs 200
crores.
In Jodhpur division Pali and Balotra and also Jodhpur are famous for dying and printing job in India. 1,000 small-scale units are carrying this job in these cities. Presently the printed cotton cloths are also being exported to the African countries.
Jodhpur is also famous for the production of Stainless Steel sheets and also manufacturing of Stainless Steel utensils. These utensils are being supplied in different parts of the country.Â
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The IT market of Jodhpur is growing steadily and today the whole market is estimated to be about Rs 12 Crore market (yearly). According to a leading reseller of Jodhpur there are 100 dealers/resellers of IT products with a PC population of 10,000. The major Indian PC brands that rule the market are Zenith and HCL and the major MNC brands are Compaq and IBM. While the major peripheral brands are HP, D-link, TVSE, Wipro, APC, Mercury, UMAX, Seagate and Samsung. The assembled market has a 50 percent market share.Â
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